MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States should stop calling for resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as it is not its job to do so, US presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said.
"But we shouldn't be the ones declaring that Assad must go. Where did it ever say in the Constitution, where is it written that it's the job of the United States of America or its secretary of State to determine when dictators have to go?," O'Malley said during the Democrat debate on Saturday, as quoted by The Washington Post newspaper.
On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, endorsing a previously agreed timeline of a transitional government in Syria, holding UN-monitored elections and reiterating the call for the Syrian people to decide the future of Syria.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant groups.
The West and several Middle Eastern countries do not consider Assad to be the legitimate authority of Syria. In 2011, Washington imposed sanctions against him in the hope that he would step down.
However, in the 2014 Syrian presidential election Bashar Assad won a landslide victory, receiving 88.7 percent of the votes.
